NPF News

LOWELL, Mass.  The New England Riptide came within one victory of capturing the inaugural National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) womens professional softball championship.

The Riptide, fourth place finisher in the six-team NPF, finished the regular season with a 25-35 record. None of their players won NPF awards and they had the least amount of all-stars of any team, pitchers Jocelyn Forest (Cal Berkeley) and Leigh Ann Ellis (South Florida). Never the less, New England qualified for the inaugural NPF playoffs and was rewarded with a best-of-three series against the regular season league champion Texas Thunder (41-17) in Akron.

The Thunder took the playoff opener, 4-1, and on the brink of elimination, The Riptide got a grand slam from shortstop Tara Knudsen (Georgia Tech) off NPF Pitcher of the Year, Christa Williams, and Ellis limited the hard-hitting Thunder to only five hits in New Englands 4-2 win. In the rubber match Riptide catcher Jess Allister (Stanford) belted a three-run homer off all-star hurler Peaches James, while pitcher Megan Matthews (South Carolina) pitched 4 1/3 innings of shutout ball, before Forrest finished up in a thrilling 3-0 triumph and trip to the NPF championship.

It was very exciting, Lauri Adlman, co-owner of The Riptide with her husband Joe, commented on the Thunder series. I felt going into the playoffs that anything could happen. Im proud we knocked off the first place team and that showed how all the team are good and fairly equal. We played a whole season and then our hitting came through at the right time in the playoffs. All three of our pitchers were very good, holding down a team like the Thunder with all of those big bats.

The best-of-three championship format was changed after rain postponed Saturday nights first game and threat of more inclement weather, along with additional economic considerations, to one game  winner take all -- Sunday to decide the NPF championship and Cowles Cup.

The NY/NJ Juggernaut and Akron Racers had finished the regular season tied in second place with identical 39-31 records. The Nauts won the playoffs and were favored in the championship game against geographical rival New England. The Riptide had lost 11 of 12 regular season games to NY/NJ, but seven of those losses were by one run, four in extra innings, including a record 27-inning contest.

We had the odds in our favor and this game I thought wed win, Adlman said. But our pitchers didnt settle down and struggled throughout the game. Who knows what would have happened if it had been a best-of-three series? It was a fair decision, though. More heavy rains were coming, plane tickets had been purchased, and there was really no other way to play it. Anything could have happened in one game.

We proved what kind of team we were beating Texas and we have quite a rivalry going with NY/NJ. The irony is we played so many close games against the Juggernaut and then the championship game was a blow out (10-1). I always looked at us as an ensemble team, a good collection of players with no big stars. Our players came through at different times of the season and put it all together against Texas. Everything ended on a good note except for that loss in the last game.